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_ RFCEI`i~; <br />ocr z s 7993 <br />Cirie~~:~ ~.~ ~., •~,. <br />wen Elk bftne _,~ ~ ,.: - . . <br />weather road. Its 24-foot wide surface consists of sevrn iacttes of road subbase, seven inches <br />of road base, and three inches of pavement. The mad has maximum grades of 5 percent and <br />10 percent along the east-west and north-south boundaries of the refuse pile, respectively. From <br />the employees' pazldng area up to the portal bench area, the road was constructed with a cross <br />elope of two percent. The overall vertical grade of this section is ten percent. <br />The West Elk Mine property is within 100 feet of the outside right-of-way of State Highway <br />133. Consequently, a variance was needed from the Colorado Highway Department to allow the <br />mine to encroach on this right-of--way. The Department has granted Mountain Coal Company <br />a variance from the minimum 100-foot spacing requirement. <br />Access Roads <br />The West Elk Mme has four access roads (Map 53). They are the stack tube storage road, silo <br />storage road, ttdddle-mine facilities road, and Sylvester Gulch fan road. The lower part of the <br />old haul road located between the run~f--mine and cntshed coal stack tubes comprises the stack <br />tube storage road. The upper part of the old haul road serves as access road to the middle-thine <br />facilidw, ouch as the crushers, surface shop water treatment plants, end other nearby facilitks. <br />Although these roads are now designated as access roads, they were designed as haul roads and <br />may occasionally be utilized to haul coal, Coal refuse or other materials. The silo storage road <br />will be constructed around the now txttsbed coal steak tube storage area to the silo storage area. <br />The Sylvestea Gulch fan road provides access to the Sylvester Gulch fan site. <br />Vertical grades on the access roads vary. The middlo-mine access road has an overall grade of <br />5.68 percent. Tha stackntbe storage road has an overall grade of 6.85 percent and a maximum <br />grade of 12.18 pert;ettt. These roads are paved. The new silo access road has a maximum <br />grade of ]0 percent and be gravel surfaced. <br />The mine roads require relatively little surface maintenance. Holes and ruts are patched in the <br />early stages with a cold mix oP compoeidon similar to the original road mix. In addition to <br />pavement maintenance on roads, maintenance operations include shaping and sealing of <br />shoulders, cutting back or chemically treating weed and bush growth, maintaining ditches and <br />drains, removing litter, and tepsirtting stripes. Snow and ice removal during the winter months <br />are a roadway maintenance priority. Parking and side areas are similarly maintained for safe and <br />efl3eient use. , <br />Light-Use Roads t <br />A gravel surfaced light-use road wi116e constructed around the southern and eastern perimeter <br />of the new ME-2R sedimentations pond and aoound the base of the lower refuse pile for <br />occasional constnretion and maintenance equipment uses. Existing Forest Service roads and roads <br />constructed during exploratory drilling provide access to monitoring stations not accessible from <br />haul or access roads and were not constructed nor maintained as light-use roads. <br />2.05-22 sewrw e„a~., »tu. 7R6J <br />